


Literally Just Me Hugging a Baby

by A_Quarter_of_Roses



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: (Technically temporary major character death), Could have just wrote “Lavonda Fay hugs LD the Hedgehog”, Nope it’s story time, Seriously made all of this just to hug a hedgehog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:55:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26840086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Quarter_of_Roses/pseuds/A_Quarter_of_Roses
Summary: Worth is not determined by creation or intent, but by those who care, and the potential for something more.Paradox HQ is being mean to LD, and they’re a bunch of baby kickers. I think I have a right to make this after that “Chapter 9“ of a torture chamber they gave out.( Based on the fanfic “A Problem of Paradoxical Proportions” https://archiveofourown.org/works/24847189/chapters/60106954 )
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Literally Just Me Hugging a Baby

He can’t really tell if the scenery around him is light or dark, or maybe some murky in between. The time that has passed since his arrival was... indefinite. It could have been hours, it could have been weeks.

With no sun or moon to refer to, no sense of time in this indecisive limbo, it could have been years and he would be non the wiser. And he knows this. But he made his own decision, and it was too late to back out of it. He doesn’t regret it anyway. If this is what death is like, then he hopes his family, his  brothers, never find it any time soon.

He’s curled up now, trying to sleep but finding it impossible. When he closes his eyes, his consciousness doesn’t fade away. He feels everything, but nothing happening at every single moment. His quills slightly swaying despite there being no breeze. The vast emptiness that he dares not even try to explore, because he’d much rather hope something was out there than face that he was alone here. Truly alone, with nothing else sharing his fate, nothing to keep him company.

He wishes he could have brought along something. One of Cream’s flower crowns would have been nice. It was the first thing anyone had ever gifted to him, aside from his very life created from his brothers fusing. But then again, neither of those had actually been for him, had they?

He was an accident, he had come to terms with that. And Cream had made those flowers for Sonic, Silver, and Shadow. For Paradox, the fusion of them bound together by chaos energy. She couldn’t have possibly known he was also there... and he had come to terms with that as well.

_ The flower crown was still a nice gift though. He would give nearly anything to have it with him now. _

He couldn’t shed tears, but he knew he was starting to cry. He could feel that too, the slight shudders of his shoulders, how he struggles to stop himself from wailing into the abyss. He doesn’t know why though, he isn’t sad. Really!

He was completely satisfied with the life he lead. Well, was lead through. His brothers had most of the control... but he did get to see the wonderful things they encountered as they moved along! And he did have a few moments of exploration.

He really shouldn’t be complaining, he’s gotten much more than he deserved anyway. A chance to breath, to live, to cry-

But he won’t cry now. He can’t, and he won’t. He’d had enough, he knew it was enough, it had to be enough, because if it wasn’t...

Then what was he going to do?

“And what are you doing here?” Startled, he turns around sharply, looking... in which direction? It had been a while, and he wasn’t quite sure which was which and where. Another piece of evidence that could back up the fact that he was probably losing his mind.

Lip trembling, he decides to take a chance. “...Hello?” Worst case scenario, he was talking to himself and really had gone insane. Best case-

“Hello there.” A voice. There was nothing to be seen, but he could hear a voice echoing against the nothing, filled with warmth.

“Where are you?” He squints, but from all sides, all he can see is nothing. “Have I gone blind?”

“No, you can see yourself, can’t you?” He looks down at himself, bringing a hand to his view. Yes, he could see himself clearly. 

“But if I’m not blind, why can’t I find you?”

“Because I’m not meant to be found by you. Not yet.” He can’t tell if these replies are truly coming from within his own head, or from somewhere around him. Thinking for a moment, he frowns. Could he have gone insane enough to form these responses from his mind?

Even so, suppressed emotions finally break free, his wavering resolve collapsing. “Oh thank goodness, I thought I was alone! Have you come to take me somewhere? Am I really dead? Who are you- wait, are you here to bring me to the afterlife? Please tell me this isn’t what being dead is actually like, it’s maddening-“

He stops his rambling after hearing a soft chuckle. If he could blush, his entire face would have been red by now. “Sorry, it’s just, I’m so relieved to have someone else to talk to, I was getting lonely.”

“No, no, I understand. It is very quiet here. As to your questions, no, this is not quite death yet. Merely a crossing point. And what I am, I suppose you could say I’m here to keep those who come here company until they leave, whichever way they decide or are able to go. I reveal myself to those who need to be lead on to the afterlife, and make sure the journey is as pleasant as possible.”

He thinks over that for a moment, legs absentmindedly kicking back and forth in the empty space.

“Now that I’ve answered your questions, maybe you can answer mine. What exactly are you doing here?”

Shocked, he takes a moment before replying. “Wouldn’t you know that already?”

“Yes, but my knowing is not your own. Tell me, what do you think you are doing here?”

The hedgehog doesn’t answer at first, mulling over the answer. “Well, I’m dead, aren’t I? My time is over.”

“Allegedly.”

“...Huh?”

“Allegedly, a claim with no evidence.”

His brows furrow, and he’s considerably confused. “But it does have evidence. This is where you go when you die, right? Well, I’ve died, and I’m not entirely sure I should have been alive in the first place.”

“What makes you think that?”

Well, maybe it’s the fact that- “I was an accident, a mistake. Sonic, Silver, and Shadow never meant to fuse, it was purely by chance. And even then, I don’t think I was ever meant to be there. I don’t know much about the world, but I know that my creation was unnatural. I don’t belong there.”

“Allegedly.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because it is a claim with no evidence. Who told you that just because your birth was unorthodox, means that you don’t have the right to exist where they do?“

“No one...”

“You were made by different means, yes, but that does not change the fact that you are alive. Don’t take that for granted. You feel emotions, you experience the world around you, you live life the way you are meant to. Your creation was no mistake, little one, but an opportunity for a life of a different kind.”

The child’s lower lip trembles slightly, and he brings his hands to his chest, finding nothing. No heartbeat, no breath, just emptiness. “But how can I be so sure of that? How do I know that I’m not breaking some sort of unsaid universal law?”

“Your doubts are not invalid, but that is not a question I can answer for you. You can either believe me, or don’t. Although, I suggest you ask Shadow the Hedgehog the next time you meet him. He has more answers than you might think about coming to the world in an unprecedented way.”

“He... he would, wouldn’t he?” He gets the slight feeling the presence may be nodding, but there is no verbal answer. “What’s the point in knowing this? Why couldn’t you just leave me alone? Because now, all this makes me want to do is go back more.”

No response.

“I sacrificed myself so that they could live happily. _I_ was  happy because I was able to do that for them!”

“We’re you?”

“Y-yes! Yes, I was happy! I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there anyway, and there was no chance of me living there anyway without the others suffering for it. I don’t have a body of my own. My life was never  just  mine. It was all I could do- it was my  _purpose_ ,  to make sure they survived. After all they gave me, I had to...” Were those tears? He couldn’t see them, but it had to be the tears that he felt caressing his cheek, moving down gently in a comforting way. “I wish I didn’t have to. It was easier when I could just say I wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place, easier to accept I wouldn’t be able to go back. But... it would have been nice to be there for just a little longer...”

The voice says nothing, denies nothing, affirms nothing, but he can’t bring himself to care.

“I can’t change anything now anyway. I can’t go back. I’m stuck here, even though I’m unsatisfied. Even though I’m not happy. There’s nothing I can do.” The tiny hedgehog curls up into a ball again and sobs, hugging himself tightly to try and find something he never thought to look for when he was alive.

There is no heartbeat. His chest is still. _This really was the end._

Then, so subtle he could hardly feel it, arms wrap around him. It is... warm, just like the voice, and something he thought he would never experience again. Uncurling, he hugs back, surprised when his arms find something to hold. His eyes are closed, but it wasn’t that much of a difference when they were open. Nuzzling into the unseen presence, he struggles to pull himself back together.

“...Allegedly.” 

Sniffing despite not having the need to, he looks up at nothing. “What?”

“You said you can’t go back. No one said you couldn’t.”

“Wait, what? B-but I thought you were here to take me to the afterlife. Or, at least take me somewhere. Aren’t you?”

“If you recall, I reveal myself to those who need to pass on.”

“Yes, you did say that. And you’re here, right? So doesn’t that mean I have to-“

“Can you see me?”

And that one sentence changes everything. He freezes, all crying and shuddering halted as he processes this question that might as well have been a proclamation of hope. “Y-you mean... I could...”

“If you want to, you can return to them. Of course, the means of which you use to go back may not be entirely normal, but you are quite the special creature, are you not? I wouldn’t be surprised if you managed to retain your memories of visiting here, even if vague.”

He hardly hears the rest of what the being says, only hugging back tighter. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you so much, I don’t know what I would have done if this was  it, if I couldn’t go back to them. I- I want to hug them like this, just once would be enough.”

Utter silence.

He chuckles. “I lied. I want to hug them so much more than once. It will never be enough. I want to hug them every day, every hour, every moment- that’s not realistic thinking, is it?”

The presence laughs with him, a formless hand softly petting his quills. “I think you could make it work a few times a day.”

“So, how do I go back?”

“You’ll know when the time comes.” Not really an answer, but he can accept that.

“Will I ever be able to meet you again?” 

They laugh again. “Everyone meets me at some point. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll even be able to see me.”

The hedgehog smiles. “No offense, but I hope that day doesn’t come for a long time.”

“Me too.” With that, the being lets go of him, and the warmth is gone. He can’t help but miss it.

“Worry not, I will be here, ready for when you need me.” If he couldn’t hear the smile in their voice before, he could definitely hear it now. “Tell me little hedgehog, before you go, what is your name?”

_ Ba-dum _

At that very moment, he felt something. A tug, a stretch, a  beat.  He felt a heart beat, a singular but strong and overwhelming heart beat.

_ Ba-dum _

And there it was again! It was his, his _heart_ , he could feel it ever so plainly as he could feel his own hand! Was this...

“My name is LD. LD the Hedgehog.” He says this proudly, hands clutched together at his chest, relishing in every movement of his revived heart.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, LD the Hedgehog. I wish you luck on your way back. Live a long, happy life with the ones you love. I’ll see you again when you’re ready.” The voice fades into the void of limbo. The presence is now gone, and LD knows this, but he has a feeling they can still hear him nevertheless.

“I will. I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> “Tell me little chair, before you go, what is your name?”
> 
> “My name is Brian. Brian the Chair.”
> 
> ~Meanwhile IRL~
> 
> “Are you sure that’s enough Flex Tape?”
> 
> “We’ve run out so I don’t think that really matters anymore...”
> 
> “The Gorilla Glue should make up for the lack of tape.”
> 
> “Guys, I’ve got a leg over here but I ran out of Kragle. Can I get some help with this?”


End file.
